Unequal Opportunity Employment
by kingspensieve
Summary: June 1978 - No werewolf protection legislation. No werewolf curse treatment. No werewolf employment guarantees. What's a young werewolf to do with his life? Remus Lupin prepares to navigate the less-than-accepting society in which he lives while managing his "furry little problem" with a little help from friends Lily and Severus. Takes place 3 years before That One Night.
1. Chapter 1

**Unequal Opportunity Employment**

 _Part I_

 _June 1978 - Hogwarts Library_

"Healer Dirridi wants me at St Mungo's two days after we leave Hogwarts. I'm not going to have much time at home before I have to start the official apprenticeship. We'll have to get used to not seeing each other all the time."

"I know. We've just finished school, and we have to turn right around and jump into careers. I've accepted an apprenticeship with a Charms Master. Mum, Dad, and I are going to London to see about renting a flat near Diagon Alley. Professor Flitwick gave us the name of a Squib landlord, so we're going to try talking to him first."

"Yeah, I was going to do that, but Professor Slughorn helped me file the paperwork to get Spinner's End put on the Floo Network. I'll save quite a bit of money that way, especially since I won't get paid for work at the hospital until I finish the apprenticeship. What about you, Remus?"

Severus and Lily had been excitedly talking about their post-Hogwarts plans for the past week. Both of them had just finalized their apprenticeships and hadn't been able to stop discussing them. Remus, on the other hand, had been hoping they wouldn't ask about his plans.

They were sitting at a table in the back of the library, studying for their exams. Lily had given up about thirty minutes ago and was reading _The Hobbit_ when Severus had decided he'd had enough of studying and started the post-Hogwarts discussion.

It wasn't that he didn't want to share with them, but he didn't really have anything worth sharing. When Severus turned to him, though, he pasted a weak smile on his face and closed his book.

"Sorry, what?" he said, trying to seem unbothered.

Severus rolled his eyes, "What happened with your applications? Did you get anything back from that spellbook company you were interested in?"

"Oh. That." Remus swallowed and sat up straighter. "Um, well, you know… I decided that maybe I didn't want to go that way."

Severus narrowed his eyes, and Lily moved her book aside with a frown.

"But you were really interested in the company," she said slowly. "What changed?"

Remus fought a flush as he struggled to come up with an excuse, "It just didn't end up looking like a good fit for me."

Lily opened her mouth to speak when Severus beat her to it. "Is that what _you_ decided or what _they_ decided?"

Remus stared at him for a moment before looking back down at his book. He turned to the back where several papers were folded and stuck in the cover. He pulled out the top one, opened it, and stared down at it. Severus and Lily watched him. After a moment, he moved to set it to the side where Severus could reach it.

Trying to hide his concern for his friend, Severus picked up the paper. It was a letter from the spellbook company.

 _Mr. Lupin,_

 _Thank you for your interest in the position. We received exceedingly high praise_

 _from your teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Likewise,_

 _your OWL results were quite impressive, and your approximated NEWT results_

 _showed a dedication to your studies that we appreciate very much. Based upon_

 _these qualifications, we were prepared to offer you the position._

 _Amongst your accompanying documents, however, was found a copy of the_

 _Ministry for Magic's Werewolf Registration and Identification credentials. We_

 _regret to inform you that, due to safety concerns, we are unable to offer_

 _apprenticeships to persons registered as Werewolves, Vampires, or other Magical_

 _Beings. We offer you our sincerest apologies and invite you to reapply in the_

 _event that your Werewolf status is revoked._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Adalbert Verthing_

 _Master of Apprentices_

 _SPELLBOUND, INC._

"Is this the only letter like this you've gotten?" Severus asked as he passed it over to Lily to read. His eyebrows were drawn sharply down, and his mouth had thinned severely as he read. He heard Lily inhale sharply across the table.

Remus was still staring down at the papers in the back of the book. He shook his head at Severus's question, and pulled out the other papers. There were at least eight more, and he pushed them all towards his friends.

"They're all like that," he spoke quietly. "All of them. SPELLBOUND was the most polite about it. The application to the Ministry's Magical Beings Liaison Office was returned with a note-card that said 'This is a liaison office, dear. We manage werewolves, not the other way around.' I threw that one in the fire…"

"Oh, Remus…" Lily sighed, "What are you going to do? They can't just not hire you because you're a—you're different." She looked around to make sure no one was nearby to have caught her slip up.

Remus didn't answer, so Severus did. "They can. There're a lot of things people believe about…ah… _lupus hominum_. Magical Beings are ineligible for most Ministry jobs, and there's no legislation protecting their right to work. Basically, the only thing that's illegal towards them is murder." Severus grimaced as he watched Remus shrink in his seat.

"What's the use of being able to go to Hogwarts if I'm not ever going to be able to use anything I've learned?" whispered Remus. "All of this trouble just to end up busing tables in the Leaky Cauldron? Something in Knockturn Alley?"

Lily reached across the table to grasp his hand and squeezed. "We'll help you find something," she said, glancing at Severus. "It might take a bit more digging, but we'll find something. Professor McGonagall will probably help, and Vector, Flitwick, and Slughorn are fond of you. Don't worry."

Remus gave her a small smile. "Don't tell the others? James and Sirius got into the Auror program, and I don't want it to bother them."

"What about Peter?" asked Lily.

Shaking his head, Remus replied, "He can't keep a secret from James and Sirius. Plus, he's getting a job in the Ministry archives as a file clerk."

Severus watched his friend, "What if there was something to repress the change? Or something that made you safe during the full moon?"

Remus looked at him sharply, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," said Severus, carefully enunciating, "what if there was something that… I don't know, turned you into a Pomeranian instead of a... ahem, really unhappy greyhound?" Lily snorted at his euphemisms, and even Remus looked amused.

"Obviously, there's really not anything like that at the moment," continued Severus, ignoring them, "but it might not be impossible to create. You could put in to help develop something at St Mungo's. They pay for people to assist in developing cures or treatments of their illnesses. There's a werewolf study I know, and there's likely something else, too."

"I hadn't thought of that," Remus bit his lip. "I don't really want to be a pin cushion, but if I could help people like me and make a few Galleons…"

Severus added, "And if something is created, you get credit and the benefits of the potion or whatever, which would enable you to apply for more jobs. Maybe not every job, but more than you're able to now. And you can work at maybe some other places in the meantime."

"But, Sev," said Lily, "It could take years to come up with something like that."

Severus smirked, "There's something that's been in development for several years now. It's a potion. Healer Dirridi is the secondary researcher on the project. She estimates a maximum of another two years before it's marketable. I'll be getting to help with it some, too. So, you see, Remus, you should be able to try it out fairly quickly."

"What about the trials? Have they started human trials?" Remus was chewing his lip again.

"That's the best part," said Severus. "They went active on human trials last month. Now, they're just looking for volunteers to help test and do further research."

"What's it meant to do?" Now Lily was interested, too.

Remus nodded, and Severus continued, "Make you safe. Sort of. It's got trace amounts of aconite in it and powdered silver. It's not supposed to be able to harm you, but it's intended to sort of… knock you out, I guess. Like a sedative for… angry greyhounds, you know?"

Remus looked contemplative then. "It would act as a safeguard, then, so people wouldn't have to worry about living next door to a," he glanced at Severus, "greyhound."

"There you go!" Severus started stacking his books to pack them up. "It's a standard St Mungo's volunteer application, but you have to submit your Magical Being identification, sign a waiver, and do some other stuff."

Lily and Remus started packing up their books, too. Together, they left the library and headed for the Great Hall. It was nearing dinner time, and many students were noisily making their way from the common areas and outside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Unequal Opportunity Employment**

 _Part II_

 _December 1978 –_

 _St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries: Lycanthropy Research Laboratory_

"Bloody disgusting is what it is."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Of _course_ it's disgusting, you idiot. It's got aconite in it. And silver. And all manner of other things that cannot possibly taste good to you."

Remus shot him a glare and continued brushing his teeth, concentrating on the far back of his mouth. He sputtered as he scrubbed a little too far back on his tongue, and Severus raised an eyebrow at him. "Shut up, Sev. You'd be getting rid of the taste as fast as you could, too."

Severus turned away to return to the small silver cauldron perched on the table, leaving Remus to gargle with the mouthwash he'd so kindly floated over with a smirk.

"You said you could tell no difference with the last dosage, correct?" asked Severus, ignoring Remus's sudden gagging behind him.

"You prat!" choked Remus, "What the hell was in that?" He threw the toothbrush down into the sink and glared at Severus's back.

Severus thought his eyes might actually stick if he couldn't break himself of the eye-rolling habit soon. With a flick of his wand, the mouthwash rose to hover in front of Remus.

"Read the label, Lupin. Honestly, one would question your supposed intelligence."

Reaching out, Remus looked more closely at the label. It was an experimental wash designed for-

"You're joking."

"Hardly. Believe me, Lupin; it's necessary."

"But dogbreath mouthwash?! You actually made a _dogbreath mouthwash_?!"

"As I said, it's necessary." Severus finally turned back to face him and continued, "You are, for a few nights each month, a dog. You, Pomeranian or greyhound, do things regular dogs do. You have been observed while eating things that dogs eat but which humans avoid. When you turn back, you retain whatever was ingested. That includes the unpleasant side-effects of whatever has gone into your mouth."

"You're saying I have bad breath."

"I'm saying," Severus narrowed his eyes, "that the last observation revealed you eating a half-decayed deer carcass – which, by the way, James was thrilled to hear about – and numerous other animals, living and dead. Forgive me if I thought it might be nice not have breath like a three-day-old dead animal."

Remus grumbled, "No wonder James stared at me last time I was over."

Severus snorted, "He probably stared because he could smell his kindred on your breath. In any case, a few things need to be tweaked in the wash. The cleaning properties are too accelerated, and everyone who's tried it says it works great but leaves them feeling like their teeth have thousands of nerve endings that have just been scrubbed."

"I'm surprised you haven't tested it on Sirius," Remus joked. Severus smirked and flicked his wand again. A second bottle of the mouth wash floated from the cabinet to settle in front of Remus on the table. The contents of the bottle were identical to that of the bottle Remus had used, but the bottle itself was different. It matched generic store-brand mouthwash bottles and had a common brand label on it.

"I trust you can switch it with his usual?" Severus said innocently.

Remus snatched the bottle off the table and marched over to tuck it into his backpack. "I can't stay irritated at you when you do stuff like that. It just makes me wonder how you do it."

"Magic, my dear greyhound," replied Severus in his best Sherlock Holmes impression.

"Shut it, you."

"Ah, but I'm not through with you yet." Severus gestured to the cauldron where the potion continued to bubble slightly.

Remus ran a hand through his hair, "Right. The last dose. No noticeable difference in the change itself, and I still had no control over the wolf while in that form."

"None at all?"

"No," Remus pulled over a notebook containing his own observations, "It did appear to have some effect pre- and post-transformation. I was calmer. Usually, I get rather short-tempered and have to stay away from people for the few days leading up to it.

Afterwards and during the days of the full moon, the pain wasn't quite as bad, and I wasn't as… I guess, nervous is the word. Not as jittery and panicky. I slept a lot more and actually felt somewhat rested."

Severus was marking in his own notebook, "So the sedative properties are working well, then. It's just the lycanthropic repressive effects that need heightening. I worry about raising the level of aconite, though. And we've already hit the limit on the amount of silver you and the other subjects can handle."

Remus shuddered. Two weeks in the Magical Allergies ward had not been fun. It had taken a week for the fever, chills, and rashes to fade. He and the other nine testers had pretty much had the ward to themselves after that dosing.

"What, exactly, would be the effect of an overdose of aconite?" he asked.

Severus squinted slightly as he worked a calculation out in his head, "Well, silver seems to work as an allergen for werewolves, but aconite is poisonous even to humans. The effects are generally doubled in those suffering from lycanthropy. Obviously, too much could kill anyone, and less could kill you. But I'm not sure what the line is between Pomeranian and a lengthy hospital stay.

At the very least, you'd be on a cleansing regimen for a while after an antidote had worked on you. At worst, you could slip into a coma. Wolfsbane comas are exceedingly difficult to manage. As deadly as it is to you, your system develops a sort of addiction, like Muggles and heroin. The only way to keep you alive while in the coma is to administer a baseline dosage of liquefied aconite while slowly weaning you off of it.

On top of that is the need to manage treatment of your organs, because the aconite is damaging them. Stomach first, followed by liver and intestines. The other organs are quickly effected as the poison is absorbed. And then-"

"All right! All right!" Remus shook himself and started packing his notebooks away. "Aconite poisoning is bad. Got it. I'm gonna go have a drink now. For some reason, I'm suddenly feeling quite queasy after taking that dose of highly experimental and unstable Wolfsbane potion. And if I start to have stomach pains tonight for some reason, I will be Flooing to your flat.

And if I die from aconite poisoning, I will haunt you for the rest of your life. I'll make sure every girl you meet knows you put a charm on your cloak so it billows and that you practice your dangerous bad-boy look for an hour on whatever you come across, including the stray cats behind your flat."

"Great Merlin, Lupin, I'm not about to have you drink something that I think might kill you!" Severus jumped out of the way as Remus started stalking towards the door of the lab. "I mean, it might knock you out or cause an adverse reaction, but it definitely won't kill you."

" _It might knock you out or cause an adverse reaction_ … but that's ok because I'll definitely live to experience whatever unpleasantness it causes…" Remus snorted as he opened the lab door, "Thus sayeth the great experimenter and inventor! Thus sayeth the savior of werewolves and defender of house-elves! Thus sayeth Severus Snape!"

"Oh, stuff it, Lupin," growled Severus, "We test the potion on your blood sample before we let you drink it. If anything bad is going to happen, the potion will react badly to the blood. Anything else should be minor issues like allergic reaction to silver."

Remus gave an exaggerated bow, "Of course, oh, savior! Your wisdom abounds!"

Severus narrowed his eyes and quickly transfigured a beaker into a solid bean bag and sent it flying towards Remus's forehead. Remus dodged it at the last moment and ducked behind the door.

"Oi!" called Severus.

Remus cautiously stuck his head back through the doorway.

"Don't forget to switch the mutt's mouthwash. Merlin knows he needs to use it before I dilute the formula."

Remus gave a thumbs up and said, "I'll drop it off tonight before I head to the shelter."

"You know, you could just have someone ward your spare room. You wouldn't be able to get out, and you don't have anything in there to worry about being shredded."

Remus shrugged, "I wouldn't trust it. I still remember coming back to myself after the first night in the Shrieking Shack. The place hadn't been a four-star hotel, but it did sort of look like a home. When I woke up afterwards, it looked like someone had let a pack of lions loose in the house. Everything was shredded or destroyed. I had, even as an eleven-year-old pup, managed to rip the door of the bedroom from the hinges.

I still feel certain that the only reason I didn't manage to get out was that Madame Pomfrey made me eat extra portions so I wouldn't be hungry. I was just bored. And 'just bored' equaled destroying everything I could.

I'm not certain that even if this potion is perfected that I'll be able to trust myself enough to change outside the shelter."

"Are James and Sirius coming to stay with you this time?" Severus asked.

Remus nodded, "They've got the weekend off from Auror training, so they're going to take turns. Sirius is staying with me tonight. I'll be dropping off your mouthwash when I meet him."

"Good. Send a message when you wake."

"Sure. And I'll have Sirius fetch my notebook, so I can write what I remember down." Remus moved to leave.

"I meant to let us know you're ok. James and Sirius are usually good at keeping you from hurting yourself in that form, but sometimes they can't. Since Sirius will be on his own, he might not manage it. I'll bring dittany if you need it." Severus Summoned the bean bag back to him from where it lay beside the door. He placed it back amongst the beakers and tapped it once, watching as it popped back to match them.

Remus nodded, "Sure. You're bringing more of the potion during the days?"

Severus was wiping down the table and waved his wand. The rowed vials slid down to the cauldron, and he watched as the ladle in the cauldron carefully portioned out the rest of the potion. The vials sealed themselves, and the set slid back to their original place.

"Unless you have an adverse reaction to it, I'll be bringing it. Healer Dirridi is coming to cross-check the formula again tomorrow morning, so I'll likely be over around lunch time. Try not to kill Black before I get there. I want to hear about his experience with the mouthwash."

Remus snorted. He gave a wave as he headed down the corridor. Behind him, he could hear Severus putting away the last of the beakers and locking the laboratory door.

As he rounded the corner, Severus called after him, "And my cloak's billow is perfectly natural!"

Again, Remus chuckled. Severus hadn't denied practicing his dangerous bad-boy look.


End file.
